Social Services Not Provided for the Poor in Akwa Ibom – CSOs Bemoan Govt Zero Spending on Service Delivery
By Ekemini Simon
Civil Society Organisations in Akwa Ibom State have expressed discontent over the zero funding of the service delivery sector in the grassroots of Akwa Ibom State throughout the first and second quarter of 2023 in Akwa Ibom State.
Civil Society Organisations identified the gaps during its review of Akwa Ibom State Second Quarter budget implementation for 2023 held during USAID State2State 2-Day CSOs Quarterly Coordination Meeting in Uyo on Tuesday through Wednesday.
In the analysis, the CSOs observed that throughout January to June 2023, there were no capital releases from the Government of Akwa Ibom State for the agencies that provide service delivery at the grassroots level.
These agencies are the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHCDA), Akwa Ibom State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (AKRUWATSAN).
The CSOs noted that as a result of this zero funding which has spanned beyond the two quarters of 2023 to past years, social goods and services are not getting to the poorest of the poor which are mostly found at the grassroots.
The CSOs particularly noted that consistent non-funding of primary health care in the State portend danger as it may lead to an health emergency in the near future.
The CSOs also noted that as there was no capital releases to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare through through the half period of 2023 indicates that some groups of people especially the vulnerable groups including Orphans and Vulnerable children, Persons with Disabilities, Women, Elderly, Gender-based violence survivors, among others have been left uncared for.
The CSOs also expressed worry that out of N1.7bn budgeted for capital projects in the Ministry of Youths and Sports, nothing was released through the period.
They wondered the rationale behind the bulk of the capital releases at 2023 mid-year being channeled to the Administrative sector and very low releases to the Social sector.
According to Harry Udoh, the Chairman of CSOs forum in Akwa Ibom State, Akwa Ibom Guild of Community Development Actors “Releases to the Administrative sector in 2023 (mid-year) are 2-3 times higher than in preceding years (2022, 2021). Speculatively, this could be linked to the election season.”
The analysis showed that the Governor’s Office, which had a N12.3bn approved budget had N5.3bn released by mid-year 2023 (43%) as against N1.8bn (17.7%) in 2022, and N1.75bn in 2021 (20%) respectively.
The same was witnessed in SSG’s Office which had an approved budget of N18.04bn but had capital release of N10.5bn by mid-year 2023 (58.2%) as against N4.07bn (23.2%) in 2022, and N2.05bn in 2021 (23%) respectively.
The Chairman of the CSOs group in the State insisted that the pattern of releases corrects the usual excuse of lack of funds and rather shows where the priority of the government lies.
Udoh urged the government to set its priority right and give more attention to service delivery at the grassroots in the last quarter of the year.
The CSOs commended the government of Akwa Ibom State for making available a capital release of N42 million available to Akwa Ibom State Water Company for the first time after long years.
They however noted that lack of disaggregation of the budget performance report to include line items is not the best practice as it makes it impossible for citizens to know what money spent in each Ministry, Department and Agency was used for.
The CSOs called on the government of Akwa Ibom State to make available a breakdown of quarterly releases by line items in future budget implementation reports.